‘Digital’ is no longer just a trendy buzzword among tech-conscious millennial and IT startups. It is now the keyword disrupting disciplines, economies, and industries shaped mostly by entrenched 20th-century organizational models. This growing massive shake-up, dubbed as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, has digital transformation at its volatile core.
The global shift to digital economies has every company of all sizes and shapes scrambling to digitize their platforms as soon as possible. The pressure to innovate today is very much understandable as market share and margins can erode quickly in favor of more agile players. Even those slow to adopt digital transformation confirm its efficiency and profit opportunities.
The problem is many businesses
still find digital transformation far easier said than done. Many
large enterprises and legacy corporations complain of massive inertia to
overcome. However, staying laggard in the face of digital innovation can spell
them the same fate that befell 88% of 1955’s Fortune 500 companies—gone into
thin air.
What must be done, then, so that
any business can rise against present obstacles toward full digital
transformation?
1-
Start at the Top
In any enterprise, it is the CEO
who establishes the organizational culture that fuels the operation and
initiatives of the company. Thus, to start bringing their companies to digital
maturity, leaders must act with urgency in moving from traditional ‘waterfall’
organizational structures to more entrepreneurial or ‘agile’ systems.
Likewise, CEOs must learn to leverage data as a capital asset and obsess over advanced analytics as a tool to develop actionable insights. Leaders must, therefore, be keen to invest further in their companies’ data analytics capabilities.
2-
Upskilling and Cultural Change
One of the significant obstacles
that challenge digital transformation is the internal resistance from an
organization’s workforce. The prospect of stepping out of current conventions
and processes that built stable comfort zones causes widespread anxiety and
fear, preventing any innovation from taking root.
A solution to weed out such
sentiments is empowering workforces through upskilling. Organizations can
partner with governments and educational institutions to equip their workforce
with future-ready skill sets. At the same time, a change into an ‘agile’
organizational structure
can promote an “us” mindset that nurtures accountability, flexibility, and
quick decision making.
3-
Looking Outside for Expertise
At present, an executive team
having a deep technical roster who already ‘get it’ is more of the exception
rather than the rule. Indeed, many companies have difficulty in hiring people
with the right skills to drive their digital transformation initiatives. It is
hardly a solution to find an IT team who would learn transformation programs on
the job.
Thus, organizations can be better
off by sourcing out the services of an external expert with a proven track
record. The advantage of such an option is immediate. With an expert at the
helm guiding the executive team, companies can immediately move toward planning
and executing innovation while their workforce can continue to focus on core
businesses.
The bottom line for any business
or organization today lies in its decision to make its move now or to take it
easy. Those who choose the latter expose themselves to a higher risk of running
their companies to the ground.
While others are taking off, you would not want your business to be running on their fumes. These are times that following a trend that truly works are the best move. So, go ahead and go digital, and see how the transformation can boost your profitability and customer loyalty.
